Chapter 15

	You have to remember that most of the serious research was being
done at the Center.  It was the best and most experienced place in the
world in regard to this drug and its effects.
	Some of the staff resources went to the Aids virus.  After 4 years
of continuous research in our drug and what it did, a break through finally
hit.
	The cure was finally found for aids. It was done as a result of an
accident from an act of sabotage on the lab where Dr. Caroline Rodgers was
continuing her animal research.  The act up Aids protest group claimed
responsibility for the act.  They caused a lab assistant to be accidentally
infected.  The lab assistant was working on several blood samples. Someone
had managed to place a small bomb in one of the labs, with aids tainted
blood.  The assistant was working over cultures of blood which had the
Nol-6a complex added to it.  It was at a very early stage.  Of course, the
assistant was infected and some of the blood got into the cultures.  Going
back to review some of the damage, she checked the culture dishes.  She
expected to find aids virus.  Blood on the outside of the dish was tainted
with Aids.  On the inside, There wasn't.  The foundation was close to cure.
	It was a modification of the original drug and the addition of a
super-strain of antibodies.  It seems that the same DNA modification that
caused a sex change in cancer patients could be used to make a patients
natural immune system to be enhanced.  Gem patients always had very strong
immune systems.  The side effect was an unknown.  Then it was found.  The
blood sample was from a monkey that had a common cold.  The anti-bodies
were in full gear, fighting the virus.  The monkey's eye color had changed
radically.  It was obvious that this was a connection to what was gong on.
But the link was not completely obvious until the assistant took the new
form of Nol- version 6.  This was the link.  A common cold triggered the
effect.
	 The poor lab assistant accidentally infected with the Aids virus,
volunteered to take the new form of the drug as a pure test.  IT WORKED.
The addictive nature of the drug didn't change.  Her eye color changed.  It
went from dark blue to almost white.  This was an indicator as to something
going on. We soon discovered that the more fatal the bug, the more radical
the eye color change. She would have to take the drug for the rest of her
life.  There was no sex change.  This caused a major uproar.  All of a
sudden, researchers from all over the world crowded into Caroline's lab.
(after it was cleaned up, of course) There it was, Blaring at them.  This
drug caused the opposite of the condition which it was presented to.  So
Aids patients became super immune to everything.  Genetically, they became
super human.  On the primates, even the worst of the military's viruses (Of
course, Secretly) were tested.  They were impervious to everything.  But,
there again was only the one obvious side effect.  And we still don't know
why..... The patient's eyes changed color to something unnatural.
Sometimes red.  Sometimes yellow.  Sometimes even white.  The group was
working on this.
	The other side effect was that the female Patients who recovered
from the aids virus became sterile.  This was also an unknown.  We figured
that because the immune system was now super charged, anything that wasn't
supposed to be in the body, was rejected.  Including sperm.
	We were working on the super immunity and genetic structure when we
had a small answer to why the human immune system was strenthened.  The
drug rewrote the genetic code and kept it stable.  Take the drug away and
the genetic code would become unstable.  That is why it was necessary for a
patient to continue taking a daily dose of the drug.  That is why Gems had
to take the drug.  If it was removed, the DNA code would become unstable.
We were working on a pill form of the drug to make it easier for our
patients to maintain their life styles.  I hated that damn needle.
	Caroline was pregnant.  Allen had gone berserk worrying about what
was going to happen to Caroline and possibly the kid.  He didn't have to
wait very long as the child had to be aborted.  Ultrasound tests showed it
was not growing after 3 months and would be still borne.  Both were heart
broken, and to this day don't talk about it.
	Me, I am in good old status quo.  Nothing new for me except every
aids patient in the world is crawling the roof to get into my hotel.......
Tulane medical center finally won control over the clinical part of the
Hotel.  But they can never get past me and the patients.  I keep winning.
One of these days, I will be out of a job too.  But until then, This is my
hotel......
	Society has no choice but to accept Gems.  Some of the religious
sects still have problems. The religious radicals had tried a way to
discredit Dr. Allen Gurber.  They found the main ingredient in the cure for
cancer.  Some of them managed to corrupt some of the shipments of this part
of the drug and let it get out to the manufacture of the main drug and let
GEMS patients start to regress and die. Thank god it didn't happen to
anyone here in New Orleans.  We had a very large supply of this drug and
were not affected by the act of violence.  This caused much problems for
the people outside of New Orleans, who used the drug.  People were dying
and they all were blaming Allen.  Allen had to go into hiding as a result.
There were several bomb threats and a real bomb was planted.  Marilyn and
the security staff managed to deal with the bomb and the security issues it
caused.  We were a open clinic.  It would be difficult to control traffic
in and out of the center without making structural changes to the entrance.
We installed some very high tech equipment and issued tags to our patients.
The tag allowed access after their ID's were checked.  We began to limit
traffic to Patients and family.  The truth of what happened finally came
out and Dr. Gurber could come out of hiding.  There were no Legal issues
involved.  It was the welfare of our founder and the patients.  If no one
knew where He was, then maybe they would exhaust their resources looking
for him and leave the clinic alone.  We, as the RG's had Allen so deeply
hidden, Caroline didn't even know where he was.  I did.  I never revealed
that I knew.  I was thinking about next time when I decided to keep my trap
shut.  Isn't it strange that someone who is responsible for curing one of
mans most scary afflictions is so easily blamed for a few deaths so easily.
This goes to show you how fickle the general public is.
	Caroline did not go under with him because, her discovery kept her
away from all the hoopla.  Plus, you can be guaranteed that things were
very quiet around her.  She had found the cure of Aids thanks to a random
act of violence and the help of that Magic bullet Dr. Allen Gurber
unleashed on the world.  The word got out that any one who messed with
Dr. Caroline Rodgers-Gurber would be in deep shit from all of the aids
support groups, including the gay movement.  The group responsible for the
violence was discredited.  We managed to get some inside information and
discovered how the bomb had been placed.  Cleaning crews had been
infiltrated and was responsible for the planting of the device.  We began
to control our staff access after that.  Again, the RG's were right there
also.  We were the quiet and secretive side (Except when in the Quarter,
partying) preferred to do our damage quietly.  The Gay groups were very
well organized and would not take any bull from any group who wanted to
hurt Caroline.  The gay folk and the RG's helped Allen get out of the
country and helped defuse the problems caused by the religious radicals.
	The company who had the exclusive contract to make the Nol-5 form
of the drug was letting Allen be blamed for all of this because of the
lawsuits.  No one was suing them.  Just Dr. Gurber.  So they were happy to
let Allen swing in the wind.  (After all, He was also rich.)  It was
quickly discovered what had happened and most of the responsible parties
were brought to justice.  Allen finally came out of hiding.  There was a
conference with the manufacturer of the drug.  They were told that when it
was time to renew the contract for manufacturing our drug, There would be
some new conditions.  Allen was justifiabally pissed off about what had
happened.  After all, he was the program.  He had been exonerated.  The
news conference was a hoot.  There he was, in full drag, talking to the
reporters.  Of course, He has hidden as a woman out of the country.  Allen
had finally done it.  He was out.  But the news media still didn't get it.
They thought it was more publicity stunts.  They were in fact, ignoring the
fact that he was dressed in high heels.  He could now do what ever he
wanted to do.  Someone even rumored that he was a GEM.  (Not true.)
Unfortunately, Life would change for Dr. Gurber.  It was good that he had
the skills to live as a woman if necessary.  He would need it again.
	The sad day finally came when Marilyn finally found a better
position and decided to take it.  The offer came from the White house.
That was what it took to finally get her away from us.  And we could now
keep up with the our two favorite Secret service agents.  They were
celebrities in their own circles too.  They had learned to use the skills
we had taught them to protect their assignments.  The lines between the
sexes had been blurred and so, it was no big deal how someone dressed.
They could move and do things none of the other agents could do.  Marilyn
would be a working consultant and help the service as a civilian employee.
I had bets on how long she would go before coming back....  She always
would be able to come back to us.  No question.
	Robert was soon hired to take Marilyn's place. He was absolutely
the best choice for the position.
	We become the biggest cancer and Aids clinic in the world.  We (the
clinic and The Gurbers) didn't share info on The Research on NOL - 6.  The
accidental discovery of the aids component was one of the biggest
explosions ever.  As a direct result of this, we were testing a complete
cure for Aids.  All the problems we had in the beginning with politics were
here with this one.  Every test was conclusive.  The opposite reactions of
the original problem occurred.  If the aids virus set up a cancer, then
there was a DNA level sex change.  If the problem was another kind of
desease, then, the opposite condition was generated.  The eye color changes
is some cases were bizarre.  We had one test patient whose eyes changed to
red.  She could see just fine, but the pigment of her eyes went to red.
Some of our gem NOL6 patients had been involved in accidents and though
they did not have a fatal condition, they recovered right in front of our
eyes.  We all remembered Fran and her burns.  This was one of the earlier
signs of the side effects.  We still had no results on the effect on life
span.  No one could guess.  It would take 20 years to discover.
	Dr. Gurber and Caroline, after the first experience with drug
companies, decides to hold the exclusive rights to the formula of NOL-6.
Of course, he was accused to being a money grubbing black hearted doctor.
Of course, his only concern was to have control over what happens to his
drugand the warefare of his patients.
	Doc still had a few problems.  Money attracted wierdness.  Money
also attracted people who wanted his money.  He was richer that God.  He
could do any thing he wanted in New Orleans.  He was buying property as
fast as it was coming available.  He still lived in the apartments set up
in the old warehouse in the quarter.  His money was being use to finance
all kinds of restoration projects.  Doc mostly hired people in the area
including every queen that applied.  No gravy trains.  All the folks that
worked for Doc had to produce.  He told them that up front.  They had to
earn his trust.  (This aspect of the history is a book in itself.)
	He was having problems with law suits.  He just couldn't keep the
lawyers away.  He finally assembled a hit team that would go cut-throat if
someone sued him.  After 5 or 6 very ugly and well publicized and drawn out
trials, no one would take him on.  Money had its problems.  But Allen
didn't run his money now.  Accounting firms did everything.  Billie ran
almost everything else.  Doc had given Billie so much control, that she
purchased the original hotel that Doc had stayed in, in the first New
Orleans days.  Robert was the security chief now of the entire complex.  He
was a little more acceptable to Tulane than Marilyn.  I was still very
upset about all of that and never let them forget it.  There had been some
major ass kissing by Tulane toward me.  I knew they knew they were trying
to make up for a mistake.  So, I had no problem accepting their apologies
and retributions.......  Life in the Center was interesting.  Stories about
the patients who moved through the hotel could also fill a book by itself.
Just the little slices of life you saw in the family living area was heart
warming.  There were just too many to keep up with.  Thousands and
thousands of people were on NOL - 5 and with the Aids formula 6, we could
not hold the overflow.  I was going to have to find and build new quarters
for these folk.  Thank God we had bought everything in the area around the
Center.
	More research.  More discoveries.  Research was under way to slow
down the sex change aspect of the drug.  While Allen was not directly
connected to the research, he gave it his blessings.  It would take a
while, but, He knew it would come about.
	The aids cure was a complete success.  There were strange side
effects as a result of what kind of infections the aids patients had.  The
bad part was that there had to be a sickness present for the drug to take
effect.  It would not just kick in.
	Caroline and Allen are now estimated to have over 100 billion in
the bank.  He has started a foundation to help those in gender crisis.
Transvestites and Transsexuals.  If someone wanted to become a test
subject, The foundation would do the Sex change.
	Doc was also into charities.  Lets face it, he needed the tax
break.  So, The foundation for gender crisis was established.  There were
lots of cases of Gems and Transvestites and Transsexuals who needed
Psychological help.  There were even some Sex changes done through the
foundation.  All Free.  You know they were a busy group.
	New Orleans just kept on as if nothing had changed.  This very old
city was used to diversity.  The attitude of live and let live had never
change and never would.
	The French Quarter and San Francisco went nuts over Dr. Gurber.
Even though Dr. Gurber was not Gay, he was the "drag queen of the year" on
the covers of several gay owned and operated news and feature magazines and
papers.  He was also on the cover of Several big magazines, as Alice.
	Caroline at this point really didn't care.  She knew who she had
married and had accepted the man for what he was.  A rarity these days.  He
had brought her into The biggest research project in the world.  She was a
lowly Vet.  But her studies of animals on the drug was just as important as
the human studies.  Her work was saving animals all over the world.  Some
of the Same side effects the humans were having were first detected in the
animal studies.  Including the Eye color change.
	He also started a foundation to continue the research to stop the
Sex reversal of cancer patients on NOL-5.  With over 100 billion, hew was
richer than Bill Gates.  He could do anything he wanted.  But, he was not
immune to the lawyers and the sharks.  The Hazlewoods were still out there.
They had not given up and finally convinced a group of attorneys to take on
the Gurber Hit team.  Hard times were coming.